Flying Finn is the inspiration

Four tries brought Reading a bonus point as they saw off a useful Havant side in this Powergen Division 3 South fixture at Holme Park on Saturday.

And the inspiration behind the win was scrum-half Jez Flynn.

Sometimes he had trouble with his passing but his reading of the game and running were spot on.

Towards the end of the first half he scored the critical try - and what a try! - to send his side into the interval 11-0 up.

Then, early in the second half, he made another break from a scrum to send No. 8 Tom Johnson over under the posts.

Contribution

Flynn also made the break and chip ahead in the 74th minute which led to a penalty. This Reading kicked for a lineout which was driven over for lock Dan Wright to score.

Fly-half Alex Wallace also made a great contribution.

Apart from his excellent distribution, two successful penalty kicks, after 13 and 21 minutes, gave his side a 6-0 lead. Then, just before half time, Flynn's try came out of nothing.

The Havant No. 8 had been sin-binned and, from a scrum on the Reading 22, Flynn took advantage of this and raced away from the scrum.

Looking for support he slowed down slightly before deciding to race the last 40 yards or so himself.

He made this with ease to give Reading a crucial half-time lead.

In the second half Reading faced a strengthening wind but they made light of it as Flynn made another break from the scrum before feeding to Johnson, who raced over. Wallace's conversion gave Reading a commanding 18-0 lead.

Havant came back with a good try from lock Matt Morgan, converted by fly-half Stephen Claffey but Wallace's 51st-minute penalty and Duncan Mollison's 58th-minute try put Reading in control.

Mollison's try followed a splendid move after Mark Vatcher had secured possession, Wallace had kicked ahead and the supporting players - Sean Lynch and Sam Laskey - had secured the ball for the alert Mollison, up in support, to make the touch down.

Positive

At 26-7, Reading were not going to lose but Havant clawed points back as lock Matt Harrison scored and Claffey converted. However, Flynn's break led to a lineout five metres from the visitors' line and second row forward Wright was driven over.

Claffey scored a late try down the short side but by then Reading were home and dry, with a bonus point in the bag.

After the game Reading's director of rugby Alistair McHarg felt there was much to be positive about.

"The back division functioned well and we had a lot of chances. It was important that we secured a bonus point and didn't concede any."

He also picked out Mollison, playing his first game at full back, as playing well, as well as the evergreen Mark Vatcher, back from his round the world tour, who made a solid contribution in all phases of the game.

In addition, Graham Sparks played a real captain's game, Johnson played to his usual high standard at No. 8 and Laskey did well at open-side.